“Chief Wu, you’re here.”
Qi Tianhu hurried over and extended a hand to shake his.
Chief Wu merely glanced at him and gave a slight nod. He didn’t reach out.
Qi Tianhu awkwardly withdrew his hand, and a faint sense of unease immediately rose in his heart.
What was going on?
It wasn’t as though he had never dealt with Chief Wu before. Their relationship was not particularly close, but whenever they met, they had always been polite to each other and exchanged the usual pleasantries.
Yet today, in front of so many prominent figures from Jinchuan, Chief Wu wasn’t even willing to give him that much face.
Qi Tianhu quickly came up with an explanation. Perhaps with so many people watching, Chief Wu simply couldn’t afford to appear too friendly.
After all, he was a police officer. In a public setting like this, he had to maintain an official, businesslike demeanor. That was understandable.
Seeing the police arrive, Wang Fei in the back became even more excited. He raised the USB drive in his hand and waved it toward them, shouting, “Officer! Officer! The evidence is here with me! The Wanlong Association is a criminal organization! I have video evidence of them smashing things, looting, and setting fires!”
As he shouted, he jogged toward the officers, afraid that no one would know he was the righteous man who had stood up to fight evil on behalf of the people.
When the others in the hall saw the police arrive, they began whispering among themselves.
“It’s over, it’s over. The Wanlong Association is really finished today. Chief Wu personally brought people here. With this kind of show of force, it’s obviously not a minor matter.”
“Look at the man surnamed Yang and the woman surnamed Xu. They’re still sitting there without moving. Do you think they’re scared senseless?”
“That would be normal. Who would’ve thought they’d be taken away by the police while attending an auction?”
“I told you. Outsiders can’t expect things to go smoothly here. Challenging Tiger Qi in Jinchuan is practically suicide.”
“That was a ruthless move by Tiger Qi—cutting off their support at the roots. Not only did he ruin their reputation, he’s even sending them to prison. Even if the Wanlong Association gets out of this in the end, today’s auction will have been a complete waste of time for them.”
“...”
Zhang Ting and Xie Jichuan had witnessed the scene as well. They exchanged a smile.
If the situation had been more appropriate, they would have poured themselves two glasses of champagne and raised a toast.
Once the Wanlong Association fell, their biggest competitor would be gone.
Judging purely by financial strength, no one else among the companies present should be able to compete with them. The mine would ultimately end up in their hands.
Chief Wu led his officers through the crowd and headed straight into the hall.
A smile returned to Qi Tianhu’s face as he looked toward Yang Xin and the others. He wanted to personally witness the grand spectacle of the police arresting them.
However, that smile vanished after only a few seconds.
When Chief Wu and his team passed in front of him, they didn’t even spare Yang Xin or Xu Shishi a glance.
They walked straight past them and stopped in front of Wang Fei.
“Take Wang Fei into custody!”
The order was crisp and decisive, utterly devoid of emotion.
Wang Fei: “???”
Before he could react, two officers immediately stepped forward, seized him by both arms, and restrained him.
Click!
A pair of silver handcuffs was locked tightly around Wang Fei’s wrists.
Wang Fei stood there in a daze, completely questioning reality.
Something was wrong! Something was very wrong!
Had they gotten the script mixed up? Had they arrested the wrong person?
“Wait, Officer! Have you made a mistake?”
“I’m the one who reported this! I’m the informant! The Wanlong Association is the criminal organization! They’re the ones you should be arresting!”
“It’s a misunderstanding! This is definitely a misunderstanding!”
Chief Wu had no interest in wasting words on him. He simply took out a document, unfolded it, and held it up in front of Wang Fei.
“Wang Fei, this is your arrest warrant. Take a good look.”
“Take him away!”
Without offering a single unnecessary explanation, the officers dragged the stunned Wang Fei out of the auction hall.
The people who had been whispering and enjoying the spectacle fell silent in an instant.
Within just a few seconds, their expressions changed from schadenfreude to shock, then from shock to confusion, and finally to a kind of indescribable terror.
Wasn’t the police here to arrest the Wanlong Association? Why had they taken the informant away instead?
What on earth was going on?
The smile on Qi Tianhu’s face disappeared the moment Chief Wu displayed the arrest warrant.
What was happening? What had gone wrong?
He had clearly made arrangements in advance.
Even if Chief Wu refused to do him a favor, he should at least have tried to smooth things over. There was no reason for him to turn around and arrest the man Qi Tianhu had planted there.
But Qi Tianhu had spent more than twenty years navigating the underworld. He quickly regained his composure, his face darkening as he demanded, “Chief Wu, what do you mean by this? Wang Fei is clearly the informant. Instead of arresting anyone from the Wanlong Association, you’ve arrested him. Don’t you think that’s a little hard to justify? Everyone here witnessed it—he came to report them.”
After he finished speaking, quite a few local businessmen in the back nodded instinctively.
That was true. Even if the report was false, the police shouldn’t have put him in handcuffs without asking a single question.
But in the next moment, Chief Wu turned his attention to Qi Tianhu.
“Qi Tianhu, please come with us as well. There’s a case at the station that requires your assistance with the investigation.”
As he spoke, he took out another document. This one was an official order requiring Qi Tianhu to cooperate with the investigation.
Boom!
The entire hall erupted.
Qi Tianhu was being taken away too?
What did that mean?
Tiger Qi had ruled Jinchuan unchecked for twenty years. How many officials had come and gone without being able to touch him? Yet today, not only had one of his lackeys been arrested, but Qi Tianhu himself was being taken in.
All because he had questioned the police.
This...
Zhang Ting and Xie Jichuan were both stunned.
What kind of background did the Wanlong Association have?
Only moments ago, they had been celebrating internally, convinced that the Wanlong Association was about to be finished—or, at the very least, would suffer a serious blow.
Yet in less than two minutes, the tide had completely turned.
The one who was finished wasn’t the Wanlong Association. It was Qi Tianhu.
Clearly, the Wanlong Association had an even more powerful backing.
Although Qi Tianhu himself hadn’t expected to be summoned as well, he remained relatively calm.
He quickly guessed the reason. It probably had something to do with his son, Qi Licheng, being wanted by the police.
He had received word the previous night that his son was wanted. Although he found the situation troublesome, he had spent twenty years building connections throughout Jinchuan. He believed that if he personally intervened, spent enough money, and called in enough favors, he could somehow suppress the matter.
Even in the worst-case scenario, he could first send his son away to lie low.
That was why he had attended the auction as usual today. His plan had been to secure the mine first, then devote all his attention to dealing with his son’s problems.
What he had never expected was that the other side seemed to have prepared in advance.
Or perhaps they had already captured his son.
If that was the case, then one wrong move could bring ruin not only upon him, but upon the entire Qi family.
Seeing that he still hadn’t moved, Chief Wu urged him again. “Qi Tianhu, please cooperate with the investigation.”
Two officers approached Qi Tianhu from either side, forming a pincer. If he dared make any sudden move, they would immediately restrain him.
Qi Tianhu remained silent for several seconds before slowly nodding.
“All right. I’ll go with you.”
For now, he could only hope that his son would keep his mouth shut and withstand the interrogation. Once he got out, he would find a way to clean up every loose end.
The police had not issued an arrest warrant directly. Instead, they were using an investigative warrant, which meant they still needed more evidence proving his connection to the case.
After he got out, he had to use this window of time to seal off every possible point of failure.
As long as he could make it through this crisis, he would find a way to save his son afterward.
Before leaving, Qi Tianhu turned to look at the two members of the Wanlong Society sitting in the front row. With a sinister look in his eyes, he mouthed a few words.
“You two just wait!”
Yang Xin refused to back down and mouthed three words in reply.
“Who’s afraid of you?”
